Short King

“Snape hated Harry because Harry looked like James.” Okay. Let’s dig into this. Because it’s not a matter of, “Your dad bullied me and I’m getting back at him by being hateful to you.” It’s more complex and insidious than that. When Snape knew James as a teenager, Snape was “twitchy, like a spider.” He stuttered. He knew he could be under attack at any moment, and he was powerless: poor, with no social clout, unattractive, generally disliked. After James died, Snape was trapped back in the place where he’d been bullied, trying to be an authority figure to kids only a few years younger than him who’d watched him being bullied and assaulted. It must have been incredibly hard, but he did it. When we see him ten years later, he no longer stutters. He can keep a classroom quiet with a soft voice. He’s in control. Then, suddenly, there’s this face in the crowd again, the one his instincts associate with danger. He has to fight the automatic response to take cover or defend himself when he passes Harry in the halls. He’s twitchy again, his nerves are raw, it’s uncomfortable all the time. And then he gets face-to-face with him in class. And it’s like the clock has turned back and he’s a teenager again. Only, he’s managed to take all the things he’s fought so hard for with him: he doesn’t stutter, he can clearly say all the insults he ever wanted to; he’s the one with the power, with social standing behind him. And so all the things he would’ve liked to say to James come pouring out: the carefully created insults, the disdain. And the laughter of the Slytherins feeds the dark places in his soul. And then Harry leaves, and he hates himself. What is wrong with him? He knows this isn’t James, it’s not helping anything to treat him like this. He’s going to stop. He will just ignore the boy and get on with his life. But it never lasts. His control slips, and he says one thing, and then it snowballs, and he’s lost all that hard-won control he’s fought for all his life. He’s acting like a teenager again, and he hates it. He despises himself for it. But he won’t let anyone know his weakness. Better that everyone thinks he is petty enough to loathe the boy for no good reason than that they know how his control crumbles at a touch. So he sneers and insults him to other teachers and gets on with his self-loathing. He’s used to it, after all. And he does his best to protect the boy, to keep him alive despite all the idiot does to undo his efforts. But every time, he ends up screaming at the kid like he’s crazy. Maybe he is crazy. Normal people don’t feel out of control like this, for no reason. Just because a kid looks like his dad. So, yes. Harry looks like James, and Snape hates him for it.

christmas gift for my best friend!

(cross posted on twitter)

While rewatching BSD, I realised that this Mori-Atsushi interaction doesn't make sense to me.

It doesn't sit well to me why Mori wanted to be helpful. He didn't have to be kind with Atsushi. I get it, he must have been curious about the infamous were-tiger that managed to escape even Akutagawa's grasps. But why bother with the nice act? He could've just watched from afar. And even with this goal in mind, Mori could've sent someone else, close to him, to observe Atsushi. What possessed him to actually go and talk to him, IN PERSON, BY ALSO GIVING HIM A PIECE OF ADVICE?

Did Asagiri just forget about it? Because I feel like this interaction is going to be important somehow... (or maybe I'm just delulu)

What if it's actually related to BEAST ending?

What if it's foreshadowing for Atsushi going to the PM?

having a persona 3 moment… if you couldn’t tell

recent observation: kazuma's armband is loose on ryunosuke in all his sprite animations, because kazuma is more muscular than he is......the level of detail in this game is INSANE.

but beyond that, i also wanna point out that the armband is noticeably adjustable:

he keeps it as kazuma's size by choice.....i'm so normal

What if...

The Hidden Tragedy of Snape's Sacrifice is He Died at 20, Not 38

Where does the idea of selfish Severus Snape and his possessive love come from? Do people really believe that Snape died in the Shrieking Shack at 38, at the hands of Voldemort? Do they honestly think that, until he was 38, he lived a normal, happy life, full of hope and dreams, right up until that last minute when everything was suddenly ripped away from him?

Snape didn’t just die in that moment. His life ended 18 years earlier, when he was 20 years old, standing on a hill in front of Dumbledore. That’s when he gave up everything—his freedom, his future, and his life—in exchange for the safety of the Potter family: James, Lily, and Harry.

From that moment on, Snape no longer lived for himself. He had no control over his own fate; his life had been bargained away to protect others. Every step he took after that was part of a long, ongoing sacrifice.

People say they don’t like Snape because he didn’t make up for his mistakes the way he should have, that his redemption arc wasn’t complete. Excuse me? I’m not sure what more a person can give than their life. What’s more precious than their time and youth? What’s more important than their freedom? Snape sacrificed all of that—what else did he even have left to give?

He was barely out of his teenage years when he chose to give up everything—his youth, his dreams, his ambitions, even his loyalty—for people who didn’t care about him. Yet, Snape stayed on that path with unwavering courage for the next 18 years, never backing down.

In truth, Severus Snape was a boy who lost his life at 20. The only thing is, they didn’t bury him until he was 38.

Comic expressing some of my Kirby universe headcanons (Part 1)

Do you think that Zak was under the impression that Valant would adopt Trucy? That that was the plan all along? Because despite everything they’ve been through, despite the allegations, despite the framing, despite the competition, in spite of all of it— Valant really did love Thalassa, so he must love her only daughter? He must love Trucy enough to not throw her to the wolves, to take her in when Zak disappears?

And then he doesn’t. She’s all alone now because Zak chose to trust him one last time

The phrase that Judas said after Jesus's death. A little comic experiment for me!